Month: June 2014

Guru and Shishya are two principles or Tatvas that are woven together in our Being. They both are constantly interacting with each other. These two principles or Tatvas are embedded within our own being. Or, our being is made of these two Tatvas. One is asking and the other is answering. One is seeking and the other is giving. One is a Taker and the other is a Giver.

As per Guru Geeta our own Soul is our real Guru. In the beginning it is very difficult to ask a question to your own Guru within. And hence we travel in the outside world from one Guru to the other in various forms. One is, we find Gurus in the mundane world or worldly affairs. They are parents, teachers, bosses, etc. These people are answering our survival requirements and are not able to do justice to our life and death questions. And these people are okay for the worldly affairs and their requirements. And some time later in life a question may arise about the spiritual world. Spiritual world means the world within our own being. It is one’s own inner world. And it has nothing to do with the mundane world. This journey is essentially to know our own center or Self. And this center or Self is our true Guru. This higher principle or Tatva is already sitting in the deepest core of our being. And it is only to be discovered. We have yet not made any attempt to move towards this center. And hence this knowledge is called self-knowledge. And the real experience of this knowledge is called Enlightenment.

We normally do not listen to a living Guru. And we go to dead deities and temples. Why? We have to go deep in our psychology and our past lives. Everybody in the past has deceived and cheated us in the name of a Guru. And ultimately when the end of our life came we found that nothing real has happened and we realized that all the Gurus, Masters, and Leaders have cheated and deceived us. And the whole life has been a waste. And essentially we all are carrying this seed in our subconsciousness. And hence it becomes very difficult to discover a true Guru and trust him. And surrender becomes even more difficult. And all this strengthens our ego center.

The true Guru is one who moves you from your ego-center to your conscious-center. As your conscious center grows, the ego center shrinks. And a moment comes when the ego center dissolves and the conscious center evolves. And the journey of the conscious center becomes infinite. This is that stage when you truely realize your own true self. This is your divine center. This is a center of pure witnessing. Now there is neither a Guru nor a Shishya. The duality (Dvaita) has disappeared. And hence all divisions and conflicts have disappeared. And what is left behind is pure consciousness or Shuddha Chetana or Shuddha Chaitanya. And this is our true Self. This is the end of all. There is no knowledge beyond this. Now there is nothing beyond this. You simply live your life as Shuddha Chetana till your physically body is dissolved in the Panchatatvas. And in the life journey, if any true Shishya comes in your way, you will try to impart him the same self-knowledge or Divine Knowledge.

Kali Yuga means the age of darkness. There are two words: Kali and Yuga. Kali means darkness and Yuga means an age.

We can divide the history of the human civilization depending on the behaviour of people towards other people and the ecosystem in which they are living. The whole existence means God and there is no separate God. And in every thing in the universe there lies God’s presence at the center of the thing. At the center of our being lies the God’s presence called the Atma.

The above age is reckoned on the basis of how much the humanity is closer to the center of their own being. When a larger humanity is closer to the center of their own being, it is called Satya Yuga, the age of truth. The Hindus compare this division of age or Yuga with an example of a chair of four legs. These four legs are nothing but the four major components of our own being – body, mind, heart, and soul. In Satya Yuga or the age of truth the larger humanity was closer to their soul. And hence there was more purity and transparency in their actions. Ethics and morality prevailed at its optimum in all their actions. Then slowly, by and by, this chair of values started falling apart. The first leg fell. And the ethical and moral principles started falling apart. The humanity went away from their own center or the soul. The chair is standing on three legs. The human being is standing on three components, that is, the body, mind and heart but without a soul. This age is called Treta Yuga. That is, an age where the morality and ethics has been reduced to 3/4th of the total value. The individual has started moving away from his own center called the soul.

Then the second leg fell. The chair is now standing on two legs. The soul has fallen and the heart has also fallen. Now there is no emotion and no empathy towards other people and the whole ecosystem. The moral and ethical principles have fallen to 2/4th of the total value. This age is called Dvapar Yuga. Dvapar literally means two legs. The chair is totally imbalanced. The chair is standing only on two legs. We can not sit on this chair. It is totally imbalanced. The human being has further gone away from his center. His being is now standing only on two components, that is, the body and the mind.

Then the third leg also has fallen. The chair is now standing only on one leg. The ethical and moral principles have further fallen. The humanity has gone far away from their own center. It is now living only with the body and without any mind, heart, and soul. This is the darkest age of our times. And this age is called the Kali Yuga. As we further move into time, this darkness will become thicker and thicker. There will be a point of total darkness. And this can be a point of no return. The whole humanity may perish forever. And this is the greatest danger.

Just look at the humanity !! There is every sign that the fourth leg may also be fallen. And this age will be an age of machines – robots and cyborgs. The humanity will reach to a stage where it will start functioning with only an artificial intelligence. The scientists are also talking about creating an artificial consciousness. It will also be very difficult to distinguish between artificial consciousness and real consciousness. And this human being will be without a body, mind, heart, and the soul. This will be an age of total darkness. The only question that will arise: Is there a light at the end of the tunnel? The chances are almost not there. There does not appear to be any possibility of revival. Albert Einstein was one of the greatest scientists. He was once asked this question: What weapons will be used in the Third World War? He said, “I do not know what weapons will be used in the Third World War but I can definitely tell you what weapons will be used in the Fourth World War”. And he said, “Stones and spears”. And I think everything is perfectly moving towards how he has seen the future. The signs and symptoms of Kali Yuga are very simple. Every individual has to ask this basic question. Is he moving closer to his own center or is he moving away from his own center? This a simple test to know in which Yuga or age we all are living.

The above chair of four legs is just a symbol of Principle Centered Leadership. And as the legs fall, the Principle Centered Leadership deteriorates. And the revival becomes a greatest leadership challenge.